In the anime Naruto Shippuden, there are certain characters that remained underdeveloped. One of them is Sakumo Hatake, better known as the White Fang of the Leaf one of these characters because Kishimoto didn’t really shed much light on him throughout the series.
The fans and especially myself would love to see the full potential of some of these characters like Itachi Uchiha, Minato Namikaze, Fukagu Uchiha, the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, and finally Sakumo Hatake. But unfortunately, we didn’t get to witness their powers to the full extent.
Sakumo Hatake remains one of the most underrated characters in Naruto, he was the father of our beloved Kakashi Hatake. And he was ranked as a Special Jonin level ninja. Apart from this, he was famous as the White Fang throughout the whole Ninja World, similar to how Kakashi and Minato were known as ‘The Copy Ninja’ and ‘The Yellow Flash’ respectively. He gained this fame as a force to be reckoned with by completing insanely difficult missions for the Konoha in the Second Great Ninja War.
And today we will be discussing his Jutsus/abilities that made him so powerful.
Why Was He Called the White Fang of the Leaf?
There is a popular misconception among fans that the White Fang of the leaf was Kakashi Hatake and this is obviously false. Sakumo Hatake has a weapon name Tanto also known as The White Light Chakra Sabre. He regularly used this ninja tool in combat. Moreover, as the name suggests the weapon produced a White Beam of Chakra, and due to this signature weapon of his, he was feared under the title The White Fang of the Leaf throughout the other enemy villages.
Sakumo Hatake’s Powers
We all know by now that Sakumo Hatake was an extremely powerful shinobi, but to what extent?
It’s mentioned in the official Naruto Data Books that combat-wise Sakumo is a level above even the Legendary Sanins of the Leaf. In other words, he is stronger than Jiraya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. And as you already know the Sanins were trained by the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. Additionally, we also know that all three of them participated in the Third Great Ninja War and gained notoriety from all the other villages.
So we can determine how strong Sakuma Hatake can be, besides he also killed Sasori’s parents. The writer Kishimoto didn’t explain much about him in the manga. But we know, he was even proficient in The Genjutsu. Even more, the yellow flash of the leaf Minato Namikaze also known as the fourth Hokage himself, respected White Fang and saw him as a genius.
So, objectively he was at least Hokage level. As you know, the weakest of the Sanin became the Hokage, so it’s pretty fair to assume that White fang who was stronger than all of the Sanin should be a Hokage level fighter, and plus don’t forget Minato saw him as a genius, the guy is one of the strongest ninjas ever considered him a genius.
How Did White Fang of the Leaf Died?
Sakuma and his squad were sent on a mission that was of great importance to the Konoha. During the mission, his comrade’s lives were in danger. He had to abandon the mission to save his comrades. Due to this, he was vilified by the villagers and even his comrades who had been saved by him disowned him, which led to his great suffering, which affected him both physically and mentally. he committed suicide and end his life to get rid of all the hardships and worries. He was buried in The Konoha’s cemetery.
Legacy of the White Fang
After the death of Sakumo, the 5 nations honored him even till now, and his son the copy ninja Kakashi Hatake is the son of the white fang of the leaf. Feudal lords were pleased and recognized him as the son of Sakumo who was later chosen as the sixth Hokage of the Konoha and brought peace to the shinobi world. The third Tsuchikage recommends Kakashi Hatake on behalf of how his father was.
If we would have known more about Sakumo it would be staggering. We can determine how strong was the white fang due to some shred of evidence and how he was respected. Everybody honored him in the Shinobi World.
